BRING ME THE HORIZON, ARCHITECTS, DEEZ NUTS, AND OF LEGENDS BROUGHT LOTS OF MOSH AND LOW BAR TABS TO THE FILLMORE IN SF ON SATRUDAY!

Bring Me The Horizon frontman Oly Sykes says "Sup" to legions of kids from the 'burbs.

For a band that often gets picked on for haircuts or style, Bring Me The Horizon are actually pretty brutal, and unfairly get shit from a lot of the metal world for reasons not understood by people who regularly engage in sexual activity. They write catchy mosh parts, frontman Oly Sykes is a rather interesting frontman to watch bounce around a stage, and their air of controversy (drug use, alcoholism, sketchy stories) make them sound like they're great dudes to party with. In fact...they even got booted offstage at Wembley Arena for bringing the mosh too hard:


Apparently shit got too "out of hand". Apparently Wembley Arena doesn't know what "out of hand" actually is.

The Sheffield boys brought their general regard for crowd safety, as well as Architects UK, Deez Nuts, Of Legends, and consequently a bunch of dumpy teenagers to the Fillmore in San Francisco Saturday night in what ended up being the end of summer blow out for Bay Area metalcore youth (Parkway Drive was supposed to be on the bill but someone who works for their management didn't get the work visas together and is probably on unemployment now). It remains unknown if some underdog, protagonist, young dude finally kissed the crush he had all summer while throes of awkward high schoolers epileptically moshed around them to "The Sadness Will Never End", but the short lines at the bar and questionable fashion choices improved our mood so much that we're going to assume that little Johnny Fauxhawk finally got a piece. But enough about the crowd, lets talk about the bands...

Of Legends


Slamming the mic stand into the stage is always a hard stage move.

To be honest, there wasn't much expected from any of the openers on this tour, so when we rolled up the stairs at the Fillmore hearing what sounded like a "not quite as European Meshuggah" blasting through the the doors of the main room, we were piqued with intrigue. Of Legends are apparently a side project of one of the guys in The Secret Handshake who has recently decided to go off the heavy deep end and take his show on the road. After checking out The Secret Handshake (you can do so here), we at Freelance Fiend would like to say "GOOD JOB DUDE". Of Legends pummelled kids for thirty minutes with bouncy, off time breakdowns and the confidence and enthusiam of frontman Louis Dubuc, who's time in The Secret Handshake clearly made him feel more at home onstage opening a big tour than a lot of other bands that have been in that position. Dubuc was able to get the crowd to do whatever he yelled at them to do, which is something newer bands struggle at. Couple that with music that was surprisingly heavy and interesting and we had one of the highlights of the show. We are going to investigate these guys some more, but we highly recommend checking them out if they roll through your town.


Is the "O" for Of Legends? Ya suspect, kid.


Deez Nuts


Insert corny 90's hip hop quote vocal part.

We usually try to stay away from negative reviews (because they're a drag), but sometimes you can't avoid it. Deez Nuts play heavy, New York style hardcore with a corny hip hop influence that could be considered the absolute polar opposite of what Cold World do. Instead of subtle homages to Public Enemy or Wu-Tang Clan blended with a unique mix of NYHC and late-80s crossover thrash, Deez Nuts pull every corny, psuedo-violent and unfunny woman-hating line from every played out Tupac or Biggie single and spew them over riffs Madball or Throwdown retired seven or eight years ago. The only thing worse than watching them was their small yet enthusiastic group of people who were there to see them. Thanks but no thanks, guys.


Architects UK


The fuck is up with this monitor?

After Deez Nuts, we were ready for anything else musically to happen on that stage. Literally anything. So if for no other reason, Architects UK sounded fucking SWEET. Musically, these British dudes brought forth the better than average metal hardcore, and motherfuckers were WAITING to get loose during their set. They weren't the second coming of Buried Alive or anything (however they did have a few parts that reminded me of them), and we probably wouldn't bump their record in the car, but they were a decent live band who were definitely interesting to watch, and if you like the mosh metal, they are definitely worth checking out (that sort of thing just isn't our bag for the most part).


EEEVVVEEEEENNFFFFLLLLOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWW...THOUGHTS ARIVE LIKE...I MEAN BLARRGGGHHH


I WHIP MY HAIR BACK AND FORTH


WATCH OUT FOR THAT CHANDELIER BRO


Bring Me The Horizon


FUCK A STAGE, SON

By the time Bring Me The Horizon came on, the Fillmore had filled up and it was very apparent that this is why the kids crawled out of the woodwork. The house lights dropped and singer Oly Sykes started the set standing on the barricade, inciting a stream of very well mannered and organized crowd-surfing for the mic. They opened with "Diamonds Aren't Forever", which if you haven't heard it, is one of those songs that was made to open a set with. The band set the energy bar high, and the crowd kicked into such high gear that they kicked all of us photographers out from behind the barricade before the first song even ended due to the steady stream of teens flopping over the barricade. The band spent the next hour churning out tracks from both 2008's Suicide Season as well as their newest record, There Is A Hell, Believe Me I've Seen It, There Is A Heaven, Let's Keep It A Secret, assault the crowd both sonically as well as with a rather impressive lighting set up and a well timed balloon drop from the ceiling. Oly Sykes is an impressive frontman, but guitarist Jona Weinhofen (ex Bleeding Through, I Killed The Prom Queen) brought his own unique panache to the band's live show, often taking some of the focus off of Sykes while showing the crowd that he's more than just a dude who can shred on guitar. It wasn't the most ravaging set we've seen Bring Me The Horizon bring to Northern California, but it was still one of the most blazing shows we saw this summer. This tour runs through October across a lot of North America, and is well worth the $20 if you like shows where plenty of mosh is brought.


SUP LADIES


INSERT OBVIOUS MORRISSEY HAIR JOKE


COME AT ME, BRO


JONA...MORE THAN A GUITAR PLAYER


ITS NOT EASY BEING GREEN

Warped Again, but this time in hot as fuck Sacramento...

Jordan and Matt from Set Your Goals lurking the Advent Stage crowd from a better vantage point.

Well...we had so much fun at the Mountain View stop of the Van's Warped Tour that the Sacramento date was too good to pass up, so the Freelance Fiends piled in the car, hit Del Taco in Davis, and headed up to Marysville for an all day mosh extravaganza. We made a point to try and see people we didn't catch in Mountain View, and that day's schedule made doing so incredibly easy! So we waded through an uglier crowd than Mountain View, and saw the following bands doing their best to get through the final weekend of this summer long circus. Without further ado...

Against Me!



We only caught the last three songs of Against Me's set, but they were easily ten of the musically together and dynamic minutes of music we saw that day. They closed their set with "We Laugh At Danger and Break All The Rules" and it was just as heart-felt and sing along inciting as it was the first time we heard it back in 2002. Sadly, there were only about 300 people spiritedly singing lyrics back at Tom Gabel and crew as the band plowed through their electric folk punk, which wouldn't have been so bad had they not been on the MAIN STAGE, where we had seen The Devil Wears Prada and Attack! Attack! draw a few thousand fans earlier that day. Good sets aren't really dictated by the amount of people in the crowd, but it was rough to watch Against Me, such a powerful, commanding live band make little to no impact on the Warped Tour crowd. I don't know if their popularity is waning, or if the teenagers aren't into it because they don't have weak metal mosh parts, but it must have been a long, sobering summer for one of Gainesville's finest. However, it was nice seeing Max Weinberg's kid working after being kicked out of Madball. He looked much more at home in Against Me.



Bad Rabbits



At the Mountain View Warped Tour date, everyone we talked to on the tour went on and on about Bad Rabbits. We caught a little bit of their set from outside the show while we waited in line for our passes, but that small taste wasn't nearly enough to base any sort of accurate review on. We picked up their Stick Up Kids EP after that show and were completely floored by their unique blend of late 80s/early 90s funk, soul, and r+b played the the ferocity of kids who obviously cut their teeth in the punk and hardcore scenes. After playing the absolute shit out of Stick Up Kids all summer, we were both excited to finally see the dudes live in action, but also wondered if they were going to live up to the expectation. Bad Rabbits completely shattered and stomped on any expectation had by anyone much like they stomped and danced all over the Skull Candy Stage that afternoon. They had a crowd of several hundred Warped ticketholders and a stage full of hot girls, band dudes, and industry types shaking their asses and clapping their hands as they effortlessly juked and jived through thirty minutes of high energy funk featuring most of the Stick Up Kids EP, a De La Soul interlude, some new songs, and a collaboration with Travis McCoy of Gym Class Heroes. Bad Rabbits were musically superior than nearly every other band slated to play that day, and rightfully earned all of the hype generated around them this summer. If these guys aren't huge by next year, it will be evidence that the music industry no longer gives any merit to musical ability or the power of performance. Bad Rabbits are out with Taking Back Sunday this fall, and you best believe we will be there, drunkenly trying to dance and singing along as best we can.



Travie getting loose with the BR dudes.


D.R.U.G.S.



This shit was AWFUL. We weren't even trying to watch these boners, but they were on before The Wonder Years and we didn't feel like immersing ourselves back into the crowd for twenty minutes. What we have here are four dudes that look like Pacific Sunwear employees and one guy who looks like a third rate James Hart (former Eighteen Visions/current Burn Halo frontman) playing AFI throwaway songs with a touch more "mosh" to them. For being such an obviously weak ass band, D.R.U.G.S. somehow managed to have a bunch of "tough" dudes moshing "really hard" for them (by "really hard" I mean "much harder than the swarms of teenage girls surrounding them). The apex of suck during this thirty minute assault on the senses (that wasn't the shotty sing alongs by the six sleazy groupies who probably all caught HPV from the band guys earlier that afternoon) was the "Wall of Death" the band got the crowd to do. We did our best to document it, but much like D.R.U.G.S. are as a band, we're shitty photographers, so it is what it is. Avoid this shit at all costs. Here's their "Wall of Death":





Gym Class Heroes



It may not be cool in certain circles to say this, but we give no fucks about circles: Gym Class Heroes are a GREAT fucking band. Travis McCoy is a decent rapper, and the rest of the band do a great job of playing a fierce blend of pop, soul, and reggae that at times is reminiscent of Sublime, and while they aren't quite as legendary or ground-breaking, they get the job done just as well. Gym Class Heroes arguably had one of the largest crowds in front of the Main Stage, and as we watched several thousand kids sing the words to "Cookie Jar" and "Cupid's Chokehold", we wondered how Gym Class got so big with little to no radio or MTV (like they even play videos anymore) airtime. Their Stereo Hearts record recently dropped, and while we haven't picked it up, we've heard good things, and are looking forward to seeing Travie and the boys on the road this fall. It may not be "hip" or "cool" to like a band as pop as Gym Class Heroes, but game recognize game, and these dudes fucking slay.




Lucero played another heart-wrenching set of whiskey-soaked, country-influenced punk and proved that even out of their element they are unfuckwithable live.




Moving Mountains delivered another explosive set of their unique shoegazey post-hardcore. We also interviewed them. Look out for that to be up on the site in the near future.




Yelawolf played. He's fucking terrible, but allegedly he slapped the shit out of Jonny Craig from Dance Gavin Dance, so we can give him a pass on being shitty for ultimately giving one of the world's biggest pieces of shit his come-uppance.

All in all, it was a pretty good day despite temperatures hanging in the upper 90s and the average beer being around $8. Thanks again to Matt and Set Your Goals for the hospitality and being great friends, and to Moving Mountains for the interview. Warped Tour is a pretty good time, regardless of who's playing. We had a good time this year, and it is very likely that we will be back again in 2012. Sometimes you need to mix it up with the kids and indulge that "guilty pleasure" part of the brain. See you in the pit.

And We're Back

Yo...sorry for the lack of stuff here. The awesome part about being a one man show for a blog is that you get to write about whatever the fuck you want and you dont have to answer to anyone else. The downside is that when you get sick, there isn't anyone to carry the torch for you when you're laid up and sleeping your fucking face off on cough syrup (that could have been worse). That being said, we are starting to achieve stable health again, thus getting back on the horse. We got a busy week and it starts tomorrow. Here's whats up:

WARPED TOUR 2: ELECTRIC BUGALOO!

Yes y'all...we are going back to Warped, this time in the shithole known as Sacramento. Don't worry, we aren't going to write about the shit we already saw (save for a Moving Mountains stand alone interview we're running later), but here's who we're trying to catch.

THE ACACIA STRAIN



BAD RABBITS



THE BLACK PACIFIC



Who knows what other garbage will catch our eye? STAY TUNED?

Friday we change speeds quite a bit.....EYEHATEGOD IS PLAYING THE METRO



Yeah...were fucking SIKED on this.


NEXT WEEK: THE POWER OF THE RIFF!

PENTAGRAM



BLACK BREATH



and the RETURN OF EARLY GRAVES!!

Should be a pretty memorable two days in the Bay Area.

Sunday the 21st....RETOX IS AT GILMAN




So we are hitting the ground running big time. In addition to this stuff we're going to, we have backed up interviews with Ani Di Franco's Dick, Cannabis Corpse, and Jordan Buckley...as well as some other ILL SHIT coming in the future.


Stay tuned. Stay Pissed.